Brand identity is one of the first things many business owners think of when they initially conceptualize their company. But as a business grows and time goes on, it may be necessary to think about a brand change. Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about rebranding your business.

What is a rebrand?

Before we get any further into rebranding your business, let’s start with the 3 main types of rebranding:

  • Brand refresh: The simplest version of rebranding is a brand refresh. Refreshes include things like altering your logo, updating your font, and selecting a new tagline. These changes might be small, but they can have significant effects.
  • Partial rebranding: As the name suggests, partial rebranding is when some aspects of your brand change while others remain the same. Completely redesigning your logo or changing your typeface are two examples of a partial rebrand.
  • Brand overhaul: When you throw everything out the window and start from scratch, you perform a brand overhaul (also known as a full rebrand). This type of company rebranding involves everything from a new logo and colors to a new brand strategy. A brand overhaul could even mean renaming your business.

Reasons to consider rebranding your business

There are quite a few reasons to consider rebranding, some of which are better than others. Here are a few of the good reasons to rebrand—and a couple of the not-so-good reasons to rebrand.

  • Market repositioning: Brands need to connect companies to their customers. If your current brand isn’t resonating with your customer base, or if you’re looking to target a new audience, you should consider a rebrand.
  • New locations: If you’re expanding into new markets—especially internationally—you might need to do a full or partial rebrand to ensure your brand will make sense to your new customer base.
  • New philosophy: If you decide to pivot your business philosophy and go in a new direction, you don’t want to take your old brand with you. Take some time to evaluate your current brand and perform an overhaul to align with your new business values.
  • Mergers and acquisitions: With every merger and acquisition comes a perfect time to consider a rebrand. Make sure the new brand aligns perfectly with both companies’ values and identities.
  • Boredom: Here’s one you should avoid. We’ve seen too many companies go through a rebrand simply because the executives or shareholders were sick of the old logo and slogan. But don’t rebrand just because you’re bored—your customers may love your current brand.
  • Crisis management: Fighting off bad press is hard, but performing a brand overhaul to escape whatever crisis you’re facing likely isn’t the answer. Most people will recognize that your attempt at rebranding is just a coverup.

How to rebrand your business

Regardless of why you’re rebranding your business, you need to know how to go about it. These tips will help ensure your rebrand is more likely to go off without a hitch.

1. Perform market research

The first step in rebranding your business is performing market research to see what customers like and dislike about your current brand and overall messaging. This research lets you see what customers think of your business, giving you the opportunity to align your new brand with their expectations.

2. Change your logo

Next, you’ll need to come up with a new logo and potentially a new tagline for your company. Your new logo (which may also feature new colors and a new typeface) needs to reflect your new company values.

3. Shift your brand positioning

Changing your logo helps inform the world about your new philosophy, but you can’t stop there. You need to update your brand positioning and all marketing collateral to demonstrate what’s new about your company.

4. Update your brand’s voice

This one doesn’t apply to every rebranding strategy, but you may need to change your brand’s overall voice. For example, if your current voice is very formal, but you’d like to appeal to a younger, hipper audience, you may need to take a more casual approach.

5. Create new ads

It doesn’t make sense to perform a rebrand but still have ads running with your old marketing collateral. Whether they’re billboards or ads online, on TV, in newspapers, or anywhere else, you need to update them with your new brand.

6. Track brand sentiment

You’ll also need to monitor how everything is going after you rebrand your business. Conducting focus groups lets you know how customers feel about your new brand, giving you the opportunity to make any necessary adjustments to your new messaging.

Advantages of rebranding your business

Rebranding your business is a lot of work, but these are a few of the reasons to go through a rebranding process:

  • Rejuvenation: Something needs to change if your current customer base thinks of your company as old and boring. In many cases, a rebrand is the perfect way to breathe some new life into your company and attract more customers along the way.
  • Distinction: It can be tough to set your company apart from the competition if everyone else in your industry seems to have a similar brand. A fairly small brand refresh—just updating your logo or typeface—can set your company apart from others and help improve your market share.
  • Fresh start: A brand overhaul gives you the opportunity to completely change the public’s perception of your brand. What was once seen as an old, boring company can look like a cool new business seemingly overnight. Just be sure to follow the advice above to ensure that that fresh start doesn’t end up confusing customers, leading to a loss of market share.

Do your business banking with North One

Whether you’re just starting your company or you’ve been around for a while, be sure to look into doing your small business banking with North One. With an easy-to-use mobile app, integrations with tons of major platforms, and much more, it’s no wonder why over 320,000 business owners trust us with their business finances. Apply for an account today to see how simple business banking can be.